Evagrius Scholasticus: Ecclesiastical History

THE very few particulars which are known respecting the author of the following History, are gathered from the history itself.

Evagrius was a native of Epiphania on the Orontes, and his birth may be fixed about a.p. 536. He was by profession a Scholasticus, or advocate, and by this title he is commonly distinguished from other persons of the same name. The earliest circumstance which the historian mentions respecting himself, is his visit when a child, in company with his parents, to Apamea, to witness the solemn display of the wood of the cross, amidst the consternation caused by the sack of Antioch by Chosroes (Book IV. chap. xxvi). The history, in many places, shows a minute familiarity with the localities of Antioch: and the prominent interest which the writer variously manifests in that city and its fortunes, can only be accounted for ‘by supposing that it was his ordinary residence, and the principal scene of his professional practice.

_ In his description of the great pestilence which continued its

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vill ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHOR,

ravages throughout the empire for more than fifty years, he mentions that he himself was attacked by the disease in his childhood, and that subsequently he lost by it his first wife, besides several relatives and members of his household, and among them in particular a daughter with her child (Book chap.

Evagrius accompanied Gregory, patriarch of Antioch, as his professional adviser, when he appeared before a synod at Constantinople to clear himself from a charge of incest (Book VI. chap. vii). On his return to Antioch after the acquittal of the patriarch, he married a young wife: and a proof of the important position which he occupied, is incidentally afforded by the circumstance that his nuptials were made an occasion for a public festival (Book VI. chap. viii). Some of his memorials, drawn up in the service of the patriarch, obtained for him from the emperor Tiberius the honorary rank of Exquestor; and a composition on occasion of the birth of an heir to the emperor Maurice was rewarded with the higher dignity of Exprefect (Book VI. chap. xxiv).. With the mention of these last circumstances the history closes. ~

The only extant work of Evagrius is the ‘“ Ecclesiastical Mistory,” commencing with the rise of the Nestorian controversy, and ending with the twelfth year of the reign of Maurice. He…